


The Rescue

by nightwalker



Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, The Avengers - Ambiguous Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Powers, M/M, Minor Peggy Carter/Steve Rogers, Skinny Steve, alternate universe - mermaids are real apparently
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-18
Updated: 2018-11-18
Packaged: 2019-08-25 08:47:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,160
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16657927
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nightwalker/pseuds/nightwalker
Summary: Bucky remembers the wide blue eyes of the Mer in the tank, how warily he’d watched Bucky, and thinks that “captivity” is too soft a word for it.





	The Rescue

**Author's Note:**

> Based on quietscribbles lovely art for the WinterIron bang!

Bucky had no idea how he lets himself get talked into this shit.

It was Steve’s fault - of _course_ it was Steve, Steve had been getting Bucky in trouble since they were both pre-schoolers, but this was a whole new level of idiocy. Bucky jammed the mop back into the bucket as hard as he could without splashing himself with dirty water, and planned how to back out of this.

“No more going along with Steve’s crazy causes,” Bucky muttered under his breath. “You’d think I’d have learned after the first time he got me arrested but no, I just keep giving him the benefit of the doubt and now I’m wearing a jumpsuit and working for minimum wage.”

Admittedly, taking a job as a janitor at the aquarium wasn’t the worst thing Steve had ever asked him to do for a good cause. And he had needed a job.

Bucky plopped the wet mop into the wringer and balanced the pole against his shoulder while he pulled the handle. It wasn’t impossible to do one-handed, but like just about everything these days, it was kind of a pain in his neck. He dumped the mop back on the floor and finished up the last corner of the room, then stuck the mop in the bucket and used it to push the wheeled bucket down the hall to the next exhibit room.

He’d been doing this job for almost two weeks now and he was starting to think there was no ulterior motive. Whatever immoral activity Steve claimed the aquarium was involved in was just a smokescreen for tricking Bucky into getting a job and out of the apartment. 

The double doors that lead to the next exhibit were closed and he groaned a little before propping the mop handle against the wall. He got the door open and propped it with one shoulder while he used his toe to flip the doorstop down. He checked to make sure it would stay, then grabbed the mop and steered it through the door. 

His left arm ached. Just a twinge, a flash of memory of something long gone and Bucky grit his teeth. If someone had told him six months go that it was the _inconvenience_ of losing an arm that would eventually make him want to sit down and sob, he’d have punched them in their fucking teeth. 

The room was a long hall that wound around a massive central tank with smaller tanks set into the wall. It had been closed since Bucky started working there a couple of weeks ago, but the new exhibit was supposed to open the next day and they wanted Bucky to give it a once-over to make sure everything was neat and tidy for opening day.

 _The Beauty of the Oceans_ , a banner proclaimed in bright blue font directly over Bucky’s head. _See the Wonders of the Deep_. The tank to his left was full of what looked like rainbow light-up jellyfish, and the one next to it had a seahorse that looked like it was made out of leaves. Not bad, actually. If this place really was just a normal aquarium and not a den of depravity and inhuman cruelty as Steve seemed to think, maybe Bucky could bring him down one weekend and check the exhibits out for real. Take a tour. Do something besides sit in the apartment feeling tired and useless.

He started with the broom, dusting up the last little bits of crap left over from all the tanks being moved around and the displays being set up. It was boring work, but a little zen, too. He didn’t have to think too hard, and the ache in his right shoulder slowly faded into something steady and ignorable. The upside to only having one arm was that the remaining one was getting _ripped_. He’d told Steve that and he’d thought the little guy was going to bawl all over him from the way his face had wrinkled up.

There was a flash of bright blue light coming from the center tank and Bucky looked up, startled, because the exhibits are supposed to be shut down for the night.

The light dimmed until it was just a soft blue glow coming from the main tank. Bucky walked closer, peering into the water. There were plants lining the bottom of the tank, thick and waving slightly in the water, some trailing upwards to the top of the tank - nearly twenty feet. In the center, the light wavered slightly as something moved.

A flash of red from between the plants. Bucky leaned into the tank a little, trying to get a better glimpse. The creature stilled, and Bucky has the weird feeling of being watched. He held still, not wanting to spook it anymore than he already had.

It moved, a shimmering streak of bright crimson red. He could see a long, sleek tail, covered in iridescent scales, and thin, delicate fins that flutter gently in the water. Whatever it was, it was big, and gorgeous, and worthy of being the centerpiece.

Then it swam out of the plants, into the open area of the tank, and Buck’s heart thudded heavy in his chest. Shit. _Shit_. Steve wasn’t full of crap. This place was as bad as he’d said.

It was a Mer. They had put a Mer in a _tank_.

****

The Mer was floating in the center of the tank, a few feet above Bucky’s head, watching him with hard eyes.

He was young-looking, the human-like face and torso looked like a man around Bucky’s own age. His hair was dark brown and cut short, and he has a beard that looked like it might have been well groomed once but has since grown out. His arms and throat were bare, which Bucky knew just enough out Mers to know was unusual - the ones in the wild would decorate themselves with bracelets and necklaces made of bone or twisted strands of fiber and shells. Steve said some of them wear actual jewelry, armbands and bracelets and torques made of metal and stones just like humans, and that it proved they were intelligent, but Bucky’d never seen one. Bucky wondered what this one wore before it ended up here, wondered if whoever caught him took it away to make him look less like a person.

There was a thin disc in the center of the Mer’s chest, and this was where the blue light came from. It wasn’t just reflective, it actually put out a blueish light that lit up the water around him and cast shadows on the opposite side of the room. The disc itself was round, with a triangle embedded in them middle and little chevrons or something along the edge. It didn’t look entirely natural, but it was flush against the Mer’s skin, like it was growing out of his chest. It was beautiful, but a little alien.

The Mer’s tail was long - very long. A lot of artwork made them look like the tail was the same length as a human’s legs, but not this one. The tail was easily three times as long as the rest of him, and it twisted gently in the water, coiling around itself, the thin, gauzy fins reflecting light. They were almost glittery, and Bucky had the fleeting thought that his youngest sister would love to see him.

The mer moved, one graceful, sinewy twist, arching through the water in a smooth glide until he was floating almost opposite Bucky, just a few feet away on the other side of the glass. Up close his mouth was twisted in an angry scowl, but his eyes were scared.

A long moment passed as they gave each other the once-over. Some of the tension eased out of the hard line of the Mer’s shoulders. 

“Hey, James! We’re getting ready to lock up and head out, you almost done in here?”

The Mer startled and was gone in a flash of crimson, disappearing into the thicker foliage at the center of the tank.

Bucky looked into the space where he used to be for a long minute, before he grabbed his broom and went to head off Tammy from the front desk.

****

Bucky slammed the door behind him and glared at his roommate. “You didn’t tell me they were _slavers_.”

Steve was sitting cross-legged on the couch, hunched over one of his textbooks. The look he gave Bucky was at least fifty percent smartass. “Technically, since Mers aren’t legally recognized as people, owning them is like pet ownership and not considered slavery-”

“Oh don’t give me that,” Bucky said. He dropped his backpack on to the floor by the door and spared a moment to glance at his old motorcycle helmet, still hanging in its old spot. There was a thin layer of dust on it now and it made something twist unpleasantly in Bucky’s chest. “You don’t believe that crap, either. What the hell, Steve.” He dropped down on the other end of the couch. “You could have told me.”

“I didn’t want to color your impressions,” Steve said, which was clearly bullshit because Steve was _all about_ changing people’s opinions. “And anyway, we weren’t 100% sure it was a Mer they were hiding. We thought it might be a smuggling thing.”

"We" was undoubtedly Steve’s little band of radical lunatics. Bucky had regrets about joining the Army for a lot of reasons these days, but the fact that his headstrong idiot friend fell in with a bunch of other headstrong idiots was definitely one of them. 

That’s probably unfair. Bucky’s pretty sure Steve’s the instigator in that group.

“Well maybe you’ll get lucky and it’ll be both,” Bucky says. “What’s the plan here, Stevie?”

“We’re still working on that,” Steve admits. He claps his textbook shut and tosses it onto the couch between them. “There’s three stages. Getting him out of the tank, getting him out of the aquarium, and getting him to the water. We’ve got a plan for transporting him - is it a him?”

“As near as I can tell.”

“Okay, right. Anyway, Clint’s got something lined up for transport, but we needed an inside man to deal with the aquarium.” Steve flashed him a big smile and Bucky sighed. 

“I thought you were just trying to get me out of the house,” he said. “Not recruit me into your band of radicals.”

“We don’t want to recruit you,” Steve said. “You’re a lot more useful without a prison record. You’re probably already on a bunch of watchlists though.” He tapped his highlighter against his lower lip. “Maybe we should fake an estrangement? The FBI might lose interest if they think you’ve cut ties with me.”

“I’m suddenly very tired,” Bucky said, pushing himself up off the couch. “I’m going to bed.”

“Scope the place out tomorrow,” Steve said. “We’re going to have to transport him somehow - see if there’s like, a rolling tank? Or maybe some kind of large container we can put on wheels. I guess we could bring in something, but it’ll be easier if we have something already on the inside.”

“He’s pretty big,” Bucky said, remembering the length of that tail. “They can survive out of water, right?”

Steve made a face. “Supposedly, for short periods of time. They can breath through their mouths and noses just like us, if they need to, but all the ones in captivity that were taken out of water died after a few days.”

“Well, we definitely won’t need that long.” Bucky remembers the wide blue eyes of the Mer in the tank, how warily he’d watched Bucky, and thinks that “captivity” is too soft a word for it. “All right, I’ll keep my eyes open and let you know what I find out.”

“If you have the opportunity to talk to him without being overheard, let him know what to expect,” Steve added.

Bucky paused in the door to his room. “Wait. Can Mers speak English?”

“I’m sure you’ll find out,” Steve said. “Night! Try not to get fired until after the rescue mission.”

“I’m giving that estrangement idea a serious second thought,” Bucky said.

“No you’re not,” Steve said.

No he wasn’t.

****

So Bucky kept his eyes open.

He volunteered for overtime, picked up some shifts here and there. Offered to cover the front desk in the off-hours - “I don’t have a degree in marine biology, but I can answer a phone, Tammy. I can even do it one-handed.” - and volunteered to help clean out the tanks. The long term employees and higher-ups didn’t seem to think he was up to anything, just the new guy trying to prove himself, maybe finagling for a better job down the line. It worked to Bucky’s advantage, because a show of helpfulness not only made him less likely to get fired, it meant he was getting access to parts of the aquarium he’d never had before. There was a ton of storage, and all kinds of equipment that he might be able to use to jury rig some kind of transport for the Mer when they made their jailbreak. 

He always saved the Mer exhibit for last when he cleaned up at the end of the night.

The display on the tank said the Mer’s name was Triton: “The half-human, half-fish son of Greek God Poseidon and his wife, Amphitrite.” Bucky was pretty sure that was also the name of the Little Mermaid’s dad.

Whatever his name was, the Mer was a big hit.

The kids loved him, the parents gawked and the teenage girls in particular swooned. He was handsome, and Bucky remembered every one of his younger sisters being obsessed with Mers at some point in their teen years. Maybe it was the tails? 

Triton didn’t seem to love the attention though. He hid in the foliage as much as he could, though during open hours, with all the lights up, he wasn’t nearly as well disguised as he had been that first night Bucky saw him. Sometimes he’d come out and put a show on - mostly for the little kids, Bucky noticed, Triton would wave at them through the glass and do twirls in the water for them - but mostly he just… existed. Curled up against the sand at the bottom of the tank. 

A depressed Mer wasn’t an entertaining display, which meant people kept trying to provoke a reaction out of him. Adults would tap on the glass or make stupid kissy noises like they were calling their cat. It was annoying, and against the rules, technically (there were approximately ten thousand little signs asking people not to tap on the glass because it upset the animals but people had pretty selective vision, in Bucky’s experience) but it wasn’t a problem until a school field trip trooped through one Tuesday afternoon.

Bucky heard the commotion while he was cleaning the glass windows in the front entrance. School groups could get pretty loud sometimes, and they usually tolerated it. Kids were kids, after all, and enthusiasm was encouraged. But this sounded more like a small riot than a bunch of kids who’d been startled by a squid squirting ink at them.

“What on earth?” Tammy was coming around the front desk, but Bucky waved her off. “I got this.” Tammy was too nice and too timid - the rare occasions she had to speak up to a customer or coworker she got so nervous no one really took her seriously.

“You’re sure?” She didn’t stare at his missing arm, but her gaze definitely flickered there for a moment. 

Stuff like that cracked Bucky up, most of the time. What did people think? He needed two arms to go scold some kids? The barista at the coffee shop had done the same thing the other day, like Bucky needed two arms to hold a fucking Pike’s Place. 

“I think I can handle it,” he said dryly. “If they swarm me, I’ll just spritz them with the windex.”

Tammy grinned. “Well, all right. Yell if you need back up.”

Even if the kids all turned out to be armed it wouldn’t be the worst thing Bucky had ever found himself dealing with. 

The noise was coming from the main hall, where the Mer exhibit was, and as soon as Bucky stepped through the doors, he saw what the cause was. A couple of dozen kids were crowded around the big tank, slapping their palms against the glass, some of them tapping with phones, or rapping their knuckles against the glass, trying to get Triton’s attention.

“All right, knock it off,” Bucky said as he walked over. And then he saw the Mer.

Triton was curled up in a little ball against the said, arms wrapped over his head, flinching with every hard knock against the glass. Some of the kids were yelling, trying to get his attention, and as Bucky watched he tried to curl even tighter into himself, burrowing slightly into the sand.

He planted himself in front of the tank. “ _I said knock it off right now!_ ”

The shout was louder and angrier than Bucky intended for it to be, but it had the desired impact as the kids jump half a foot in the air and stare at him in confusion. But at least they stopped.

“That is unacceptable,” Bucky said. He levels his voice out, drops the volume. “Completely unacceptable.”

An older woman comes jogging over from the far end of the hall. “What’s going on?”

 

“If the kids can’t refrain from disturbing the exhibits, I will have to ask them to move on,” Bucky said. Technically he had no right - he’s the _janitor_ , he’s not even really supposed to talk to visitors unless they ask him where the bathroom is - but he had a name tag on with the Aquarium logo, so maybe they’d think he had some kind of authority. “Banging on the glass is upsetting for the creatures in the tanks.”

“It’s just a fish,” one of the kids mutters petulantly under his breath. “It’s just an animal.”

“So are you,” Bucky snapped back. “It’s not okay to hurt living creatures. See how upset it is right now? You guys did that.”

“We just wanted to see,” one of the girls said and at least this kids seemed like she actually felt bad.

Bucky softened his voice further. “I know. He’s very cool, right?” She nodded, and some of the other kids did too. “But you guys are scaring him and that just makes him want to get away. You can walk around the tank if you want to get a better view, but banging on the glass not allowed. All right?” He waits for the kids to nod, which most of them do. “Okay, leave Triton alone for a little while. If you guys come back at the end of your tour he might have calmed down and be more willing to come out.”

“That sounds like an excellent plan,” the teacher said. “Let’s go, into the next room. And I don’t want to hear _anyone_ tapping on the glass, I know you guys can read the signs. You know better.” She ushered the kids toward the door she’d run in through and offers Bucky an apology, plus a promise to keep an eye on them when they come back to revisit Triton later.

Bucky sincerely hoped she didn’t complain about this to anyone who knew he was just the janitor. Getting fired was going to make Steve’s escape plan even more difficult. 

He glanced over the tank, just to make sure Triton’s okay, and the Mer was watching him through the glass.

Bucky blinked. This was the first time he could think of that the Mer had approached anyone who wasn’t a little kid since the first night Bucky saw him. He raised a hand, slowly, and waved a little, waggling his fingers at Triton.

Triton’s eyes narrowed, locked onto Bucky’s hand, but when he didn’t try to touch the glass, the Mer relaxed and swam just a little closer. He raised his hand too, and wiggled his fingers at Bucky. His eyes were crinkled at the corners, like Triton was laughing at him a little. 

“Yeah, yeah,” Bucky couldn’t blame him. “Smart ass.”

Triton cocked his head to the side and watched Bucky for a moment. Then he smiled and moved his lips. It looked like he was trying to say something.

It looked like _thank you_.

****

“Well,” Bucky said as he grabbed a beer out of the fridge. “The Mer can definitely speak English.”

“That’s good, actually. It means we’ll be able to explain the escape plan to him instead of having to just grab him and go. I know we have better intentions than the aquarium but to his point of view, we would just look like another bunch of kidnappers.” Steve was very slowly trying to hide some blueprints under his sketchbook while Natasha and Peggy gave Bucky identical looks of utter innocence.

“That’s not the aquarium, Steve.”

“Shhhh,” Natasha said, tapping her index finger gently against his lips as she walked to the kitchen. “You don’t want to be an accomplice, do you?”

“Please tell me you’re at least stealing something interesting this time.”

“Just data,” Steve said. “Sorry. There’s a cash for gold place on West 49 that-”

“I don’t want to know,” Bucky said. “You couldn’t at least take the gold?”

“That would be _stealing_ ,” Steve said and Natasha grinned while Bucky rolled his eyes and wished he kept better company. “Have you figured out the security guard’s rotation yet? We’re ready to move.”

“Sunday’s our best bet,” Bucky said. “The aquarium closes early and Logan really likes football. He doesn’t do rounds then, he’ll just check the cameras from the desk.”

“Okay, we can work with that. Nat, will Clint be ready by then?”

“He will be,” Natasha said. “I’ll let Sam know so he can make sure his schedule is clear.”

“All right. Sunday then. Triton will be free before we have to go to classes on Monday.”

****

On Wednesday, when Bucky went to work, something was wrong with Triton.

He was laying curled up on the sand, like he was more and more often lately. His eyes were open but he was staring dully through the water at nothing in particular at all, and his skin was paler than normal.

Bucky crouched down next to the tank so he’d be closer to eye level. “Do they think there’s something wrong with him?”

Tammy shrugged. “One of the docs was in here earlier and he said it’s something that just happens to Mers in captivity sometimes. Like they just give up. It’s a mystery.”

A mystery hell. It was a pretty big tank, but it was still the equivalent of being trapped in a studio apartment for the rest of your life, with no entertainment, no companionship and no chance of leaving. Bucky thought he’d have blown his brains out if he were the one in Triton’s position. “What’s the plan?”

Tammy shook her head. “See if he gets better. If not, I think there’s some facility upstate they might try to send him to. Doctor Stane has apparently had good results working with Mers.”

“Hmm.” Bucky made a mental note of the name, to tell Steve about later. “Too bad we can’t just let him go home. That would cheer me up in his place.”

“Yeah,” Tammy agreed. “I just… I dunno. The bigger animals, like Triton or the orcas - it’s just sad to see them penned up. I know the aquarium is educational, but I wish we could at least get him a bigger home, or some companionship.”

“Are you lonely?” Bucky asked softly as Tammy walked back to the front desk. “I would be, if I were you. Locked up in there, no one to talk to, no one to understand you, just a bunch of dumb kids and a nosy janitor.”

Triton’s gaze drifted to meet his eyes. There was a spark of interest there, a hint of a smile. 

“That’s more like it.” Bucky gave him a thumbs up and grinned when Triton curled his fingers into a fist and returned the gesture. “I don’t know if you can hear me through this glass man, but just hang in there a little while longer, all right? Just a few more days and you won’t have to deal with this shit anymore. All right?”

Triton cocked his head a little, and something in those blue eyes said that he understood perfectly.

****

Unfortunately, whether Triton understood him or not, Bucky’s little pep talk didn’t seem to do much good, and the Mer grew more listless and tired by day. His skin was going slightly gray, and Bucky thought he was losing weight. 

More alarmingly, the glowing disc in his chest was starting to flicker.

“I don’t even know what that is,” one of the the aquarists said. He was an older guy - Bucky couldn’t remember his name. McKenzie? Something like that. “I’ve studied Mer before, but I’ve never seen that on any of them. I assume it’s a sub-species capable of bioluminescence but there’s literally nothing to support that. I told the director we needed to study him more in-depth.”

“Well, it’s a moot point now,” the other one said. 

“Is he dying?” Bucky asked. His chest feels tight, like something is wrapped around his lungs. “The Mer? Is he sick or something?”

“Maybe,” McKenzie said. “I don’t know, to be honest. I’ve never treated a live Mer before - there are so few of them in captivity because of those idiot Mer Rights people, there’s no opportunity. There’s a place up north that’s got a bunch of them though, and they seem to have had some success keeping them alive in captivity, so the director figures that’s the best course of action.”

Bucky risked a glance into the tank, where Triton was once again curled up against the sand. “They’re sending him away? When?”

“First thing tomorrow.” McKenzie shrugged. “We’ll keep an eye on him today, make sure he doesn’t get any worse, but we’re at the end of our knowledge here. Time to let someone else step in or we’ll lose him for sure. They’re sending someone down from the facility to oversee the transport.”

Bucky ducked out of the building and called Steve from the parking lot where he was sure no one could overhear. “We have a problem. We need to do it tonight.”

“ _What?_ ” Steve’s voice is hushed, and Bucky can hear a lot of voices in the background. He’s either at school or a meeting. Maybe a protest. With Steve it’s hard to tell. “ _Why? What’s going on?_ ”

“He’s sick. The Mer. They’re transferring him to some kind of facility upstate tomorrow morning. We need to get him out of here before then. Grab Clint and the rest of them and-”

“ _Clint’s in jail._ ”

Bucky closed his eyes and took a deep breath. His left arm throbbed as his muscles tensed up. “Why is Clint in jail?”

“ _Assaulting a police officer. He threw three gallons of sour milk at an NYPD officer during a stop and frisk._ ”

“Why sour milk?”

Bucky could practically hear Steve shrug over the phone. “ _Everyone’s kind of in the dark on that one. But there’s no way he’s getting out on bail until at least tomorrow._ ”

Bucky wasn’t even a little surprised. He’d always suspected Clint’s involvement in Steve’s group was fifty percent for the social justice and fifty percent for the opportunity to wreak a little havok. “Fine, then get the rest of the team together and find a different truck. The whole place shuts down by nine, we can-”

“ _Bucky, maybe we should wait. Last minute isn’t a good idea and if he’s already sick... They’re transporting him somewhere he’ll be treated-_ ”

“No,” Bucky said. “No. If they ship him upstate we won’t have anyone on the inside, we’ll have to start the planning all over again. And there’s no guarantee he’ll get better.” He felt strangely out of breath, his heart pounding against his ribs. “Steve. He’s dying from being here. Leaving him here even longer and hoping he’ll get over it isn’t going to work. We have to get him out of here and we have to do it now.”

“ _I don’t want to endanger him any more than he already has been_.”

“If it were me,” Bucky said slowly, thinking of the last six months, of the friends who’d stopped keeping in touch, the family members who didn’t know what to say, of the way he’d spend days at a stretch in bed or on the couch, never talking to anyone but Steve and Steve’s friends. It was still better than what they were doing to Triton. “If it were me, I’d risk it. I’d rather be free than spend the rest of my life in solitary, dying of loneliness.” 

 

There was a long pause. “ _Buck. You’re not alone. You know that, right?_ ”

He closed his eyes against a rush of gratitude and affection. “I know that. But I’m not leaving him here like this. If it’s too last minute, I get it. I’m not asking you to do anything dangerous. But I’ll get him out of here myself.”

“ _You will not_ ,” Steve said sharply. “ _Let me round up whoever I can on short notice and we’ll meet you when your shift is over. Just don’t do anything until then, okay? We have all night, right?_ ”

Right. Bucky hung up and took several long deep breaths. They had time. They could still do this.

He finished his shift, lingered rather obviously around Triton’s tank as much as possible, trying to keep an eye on him while he started planning a prison break.

****

Steve managed to round up Natasha, the scariest fucker Bucky had ever met, and Sam, the most annoying. They were both pretty competent people despite all that. Or at least Bucky had always thought they were, before he saw their getaway vehicle.

“It was short notice!” Steve said in a hushed voice. 

“It’s a pick-up truck with a kiddie pool in the back,” Bucky said.

“Tell me you can get us inside,” Steve said. “None of this is going to matter if we can’t get to him.”

Bucky has a key, and an access code to the alarm. It’s Logan, the overnight security guard, who’s going to pose the real problem. “There are cameras - he usually stays in the lobby and watches the screens in between patrols.”

“Oh,” Natasha says. “That’s easy.”

Sam stayed with the truck while Nat sent Bucky and Steve to take cover near the rear entrance as she headed toward the front. It took a couple of minutes, then all of a sudden there was the loud shriek of a car alarm and a text came over Bucky’s phone. “ _Go_.”

He got them in the back door and down to the storage area that the cameras didn’t cover. Natasha was there a minute later, lips curled in a satisfied grin and an Aquarium laptop tucked under her arm. “The guard’s checking out the damage, it’ll give us a minute to get around the cameras.”

Bucky reminded himself that he’s not really a dedicated Aquarium employee. This was an undercover job, and the Aquarium was keeping intelligent beings locked up in tiny cages. “What did you break?”

“Just a few car windows. The alarms got him outside.” Nat plopped the laptop down on top of a large box labeled _Gift Shop Clearance 2009_ in black sharpie, sending up a puff of dust. “Give me a minute here.” She messed with something and over her shoulder Bucky checked the login ID at the top right of the screen. “How did you get the director’s laptop?”

“Don’t ask if you don’t want to be an accessory,” Natasha reminded him, but she was grinning, bright white teeth and bright brown eyes. “The cameras are paused. As long as he doesn’t look too closely and notice none of the animals in the tanks are moving, we should be fine until he starts his rounds.” She tipped her head toward the door. “All right, Barnes. Lead the way.”

The aquarium was still and strangely quiet after hours, the lights dim. Some of the larger displays tripped on Bucky’s nerves, the fish moving in the relative darkness, just barely seen out of the corner of his eye. He felt tense and wary, like he used to on patrol. _There’s no one here,_ he reminded himself. And then he turned the corner into the main exhibit hall and realized just how right he was.

Triton was gone.

“Shit,” he said, and took off running. The tank looked empty, but Triton had liked to hide in the plants, maybe- No. The tank was empty. And the hatch at the top was open.

“They left early.”

Logan, the security guard, was leaning against the doorway. He was a short guy, stocky and made of one hundred percent bad attitude, which Bucky had mostly liked about him. He was watching them with a smirk and one pointedly raised eyebrow. “Hey, Steve.”

Steve offered him a little wave. “Hey, Logan.”

“I don’t even want to know how you know each other,” Bucky said. “What do you mean they left early?”

 

Logan shrugged. “They said the drive would be easier at night than dealing with morning traffic. Between you and me, it’s possible you weren’t as stealthy as you thought you were.”

Bucky swore, hard. “He’s gone.”

“Not far.” Logan tossed something at him and Bucky scrambled to catch it one-handed. He caught it against his chest, hard enough that it would leave a mark. “That’s the Lojack for the Aquarium truck they took.”

It was Logan’s company phone. A GPS map was up on the screen, with a blue dot moving steadily up Interstate 95. “Why are you giving us this?”

Logan smiled. It was sharp and unfriendly. “I don’t mind putting people in cages, but I’d prefer they deserve it. They’ve got a good twenty minute head-start on you. You might want to head out.”

Steve swore under his breath and grabbed his phone. “Sam, get over here now - Logan-” 

The guard waved them toward the front. “Go on, I assume whatever Red did to the cameras is still working?”

“Until someone notices,” she said.

“I’ll make sure to notice as soon as you guys are out of the parking lot.” Logan pulled an unlit cigar from his pocket and propped it between his teeth as he made a show of looking the other way while they ran past him.

Sam pulled up to the door just as they came running out of the building. He lowered his window as Natasha slid across the hood and wrenched open the passenger side door. “Where is he?” Sam asked. “What happened? Are we made?”

“Change of plans!” Steve hollered as he grabbed the back of the truck and vaulted into the cargo bed. “Bucky, where are they?”

It was hard to vault with only one hand, especially when he was using it to hold a phone, but Bucky just climbed up over the bumper and into the bed next to Steve. “Ninety-five northbound!” he yelled. “Sam, hit it, they have a headstart on us!”

Sam, to his credit, hit the gas, sending Steve and Bucky staggering. “Who are we following?”

“The Aquarium!” Steve made his way up to the cab, and slid open the window that separated them from Sam and Nat. “They shipped the Mer out to the facility a day early. We’ll have to head them off on the road.”

Sam swore, very sincerely. “This is turning into a real mess, Steve.”

“I know. But Bucky’s right. We can’t leave him in captivity just because it’s the safer option.”

“We’re all going to get arrested,” Sam said, but he stepped on the gas.

Natasha leaned into the window. “Bucky, what does the truck look like?”

“Dark blue, maybe black.” He couldn’t quite remember. “It looks like a delivery fan if you don’t look too close, but with a longer back and a hatch on the roof. And it has the Aquarium logo on it. In yellow font, I think.”

“Let us know when we’re getting close,” Sam said. He hit the gas to make a yellow light and blew past two cars before swinging back into the right lane and hitting the on ramp at full speed.

“What are we going to do when we catch up with them?” Bucky asked. “Tell me you’ve done something like this before.”

“Oddly enough, carjacking is kind of a new one for me,” Steve said. “Counter-protests, sit-ins, political graffiti, impromptu block parties outside certain public servants houses at four in the morning-”

“ _I knew that was you!_ ”

“-but this is a little outside of my usual repertoire.” Steve gripped Bucky’s shoulder as Sam whipped past a car with Florida plates that was going the speed limit in the center lane and ignoring all the angry horns from the line of cars behind it. “We’ll figure it out, Buck. I promise.”

“It’ll be fine,” Natasha yelled over her shoulder. “I know what to do. Just follow my lead.”

“I’m not killing anybody!” Bucky yelled over a sudden cacophony of horns as Sam cut across two lanes of traffic. Water sloshed out of the kiddie pool and soaked Bucky’s feet from mid-calf down.

Natasha just flashed him a grin and turned around.

“That’s not reassuring,” Bucky said. 

Steve snorted. “It’s like you don’t even _know_ her.”

“Where are they?” Sam yelled.

“Close.” Bucky had the phone clenched in his hand as tight as he dared. They couldn’t risk him dropping it in the water that was all over the bed of the truck, or having it fly out into the road if he lost his grip the next time Sam turned the wheel a little too hard. “We’re only a few miles behind them now.” The blue dot took an exit as he watched and he cursed. “Wait, wait, they’re getting off the highway.”

“That’s good,” Natasha said. “It’ll make things easier.”

Sam twisted his head to glare at them for a moment. “Which fucking exit, people!”

Bucky looked at the GPS, the at the road sign. “Shit, shit, this one!”

The truck swerved to the right, setting off another loud blare of horns behind them. Bucky landed on his ass and Steve bowled over into him. 

The rest of the water in the kiddie pool crested the side of the plastic container like a mini tidal wave, soaking them both.

“Left!” Bucky yelled. “And then look for a Springfield Avenue and turn left again!”

Sam is forced to slow down significantly, but they’re still going well over the limit. Bucky hopes no one’s bothered calling the cops on them for riding around in the back of the truck - it’s entirely possible the cops are looking for the pickup.

Well, there’s very little chance they’re not getting arrested after this anyway, might as well add some extra charges in there.

“I see it,” Natasha said. Her voice is sharp, and satisfied. “Good job, Sam. Don’t lose them but try not to make it too obvious that we’re following them.”

“I think the time for stealth and subtlety has long since passed us by,” Bucky said, but he kept his head down anyway. 

“There’s a red light ahead,” Natasha said. “Get ready.”

“For what?” Bucky asked, but Sam was already hitting the brakes and Natasha threw open the door and jumped out of the truck while it was still moving.

“Are you _crazy_?” Bucky yelled after her, but he shoved the phone in his pocket and jumped over the back of the truck, his legs stinging slightly with the impact as he hit the ground running. Steve was right behind him, and Bucky could hear Sam yelling after them as they raced toward the truck.

Natasha grabbed the driver’s side door and wrenched it open, jumping up into the truck all in one smooth motion. She reached in and two seconds later she was pulling a guy twice her side out of the truck and flinging him to the ground. “Get in!” 

Steve grabbed the back of the truck and pulled open the doors. “Go!” He jumped into the read of the truck and reached back for Bucky, bracing himself on the side of the doorway. He grabbed a fistfull of Bucky’s coat and yanked just as Bucky jumped.

The truck kicked into gear and sped through the light. Bucky and Steve crashed against the side of the acrylic tank that was bolted down in the middle of the delivery truck, and scrambled to brace themselves. Through the open doors Bucky could see Sam racing after them in the truck, and the big guy Natasha had grabbed staggering to his feet in the middle of the street, then the doors swung shut.

“That was awesome,” Steve said. “I cannot believe we pulled that off.” He twisted his head around. “Hey, you must be Triton.”

Bucky hauled himself to his feet. “It’s going to be okay,” he assured the Mer. Triton looked deeply unhappy in the small tank. There wasn’t enough room for him to stretch out to full length, and it was barely high enough for him to position himself upright, even with his tail tightly coiled underneath him. His skin was still an unhealthy looking pallor, and the blue light in his chest flickered even as Bucky watched, but his eyes were wide open and sharp in a way they hadn’t been in days. He was watching Bucky intently.

“We’re here to help you,” Bucky said, then a little louder. “We’re going to help you.”

“Talking louder doesn’t make him understand you,” Steve said, exasperated.

“It does if he can’t hear me through the glass,” Bucky said. He pointed at Steve. “Friend. Idiot friend.”

Triton glanced at Steve, then his eyes flickered back to Bucky. _Friend_ , he mouthed.

Steve’s phone started to ring and he grabbed for it and put it on speaker. “Tasha?”

“ _We’re only a minute out from the water,_ ” she said in a tight voice. “ _But this truck won’t get very far off the road so we’re going to have to carry him and make a run for it._ ”

“We can do that,” Bucky said.

“ _Also, we’re being followed. There’s an unmarked sedan that’s been on our asses for the last mile or so. Probably people from the Aquarium, but maybe undercover cops._ ”

“Probably someone from the Stane facility,” Bucky said. “The aquarist mentioned that they were sending someone to oversee the transport.”

There was a long moment of silence and Steve stared at him. “Stane?” he finally said. “Obadiah Stane?”

“ _Well shit,_ ” Natasha said.

“Yeah, he runs the facility they’re sending Triton to. Why?” Bucky asked. “Is that bad?”

“Obadiah Stane’s a crook,” Steve said. “He’s got some legitimate businesses, but he’s a smuggler and a crook. He’s poured millions into keeping the law from recognizing Mer as intelligent beings and the facility he runs is just a bunch of paid off scientists who write papers on whatever he tells them to. The Mer at his facilities are “retired” into private collections when he’s done with them, mostly wealthy businessmen who like having exotic pets. He’s a fucking peddler of flesh.”

“ _He’s also vicious to his enemies_ ,” Natasha said, “ _and the people who work for him tend not to be very friendly. We’re going to need to move very, very fast. Brace yourselves._ ”

The truck bounced what felt like an entire foot in the air as it left the road. Bucky grabbed for the tank. “Help me get this off, Steve. We need to hit the ground running as soon as she stops.”

Steve pulled at the latches around the edge of the tank and they get the top off, shoving it to the side and letting it hit the floor with a crash. Before Bucky can reach for the tank, Triton grabs for the edge and pulls himself up out of the water. 

“ _Get ready!_ ” Natasha yells through Steve’s phone. “ _We’re almost out of room, here._ ”

“Put your arms around my neck,” Bucky said. 

Triton hesitated, eyes darting between Bucky and Steve, and the doors of the truck like he was debating his chances of making it without them.

“I’m gonna get you out of here.” Bucky held out his arm. “We’re getting you home. I _promise_.”

The Mer licked its lips. “Tony.”

“I-” Bucky was prepared for an argument, if the Mer spoke at all, and had to stop and rethink his next words. “What?”

“My name. It’s Tony.” He locked his gaze on Bucky’s, eyes inhumanly bright. “You’re Bucky. You were the only one in there who didn’t treat me like an animal.”

“You’re _not_ ,” Bucky said, and the words come out fierce. “It wasn’t right, what they were doing. We’re going to fix it, but you need to trust me.”

Tony’s fingers clenched around the rim of the tank, then he let go and reached for Bucky.

His arms were warm, and the skin felt human, familiar. Tony wrapped both arms around Bucky’s neck and held tight, pushing himself up out of the tank with his tail. Bucky caught him beneath what would have been his hips if he’d been human, and held him against his chest. “Hold on,” he said. “You’re going to have to hold most of your weight up while I move.” It would be easier to do this with two arms, but that ship had long since sailed, and Steve wouldn’t have been able to carry Tony far enough. 

Steve darted in. “Sorry,” he said to Tony, then he took the end of the Mer’s tail and carefully draped it over Bucky’s shoulder so it wouldn’t touch the ground as he ran. “When we stop, just go. If anyone tries to follow I’ll slow them down.”

“If Stane’s people are as bad as you say-” Bucky said.

“They’re not going to shoot us or anything,” Steve said dismissively, “That would be crazy. Worst case scenario, I have to tackle someone. It’ll be fine. Just get Tony home, that’s what all this was about to begin with.”

Tony tightened his hold on Bucky’s neck. “I don’t want anyone to get hurt,” he said.

“We won’t,” Bucky said. “And neither will you.”

Tony frowned at him, but didn’t argue anymore. He ducked his head against Bucky’s throat. 

“How long can you be out of the water?” Bucky asked.

“Long enough,” Tony said. “Don’t worry about that, if I’m out long enough for it to matter we’re already screwed.”

“Why does the Merman sound like he grew up in Manhattan?” Steve asked.

Tony lifted his head long enough to give Steve a grin. “Because we’ve been here as long as you have, we’ve been talking to you humans more often than you know.”

“Wait, what?” Steve frowned. “How?”

Tony opened his mouth, but whatever he was going to say was cut off by the heavy crack of the truck bottoming out and Natasha’s voice over the speakerphone. “ _Now!_ ”

Steve was faster, he had the doors open in a heartbeat and all but flung himself out of the truck, ready for a fight. Bucky hefted Tony higher in his arms and jumped out after him. He could see a dark sedan bouncing over the dirt and grass not far behind them, and to the right he could hear the ocean.

He didn’t wait for Steve, just turned and ran. He heard Natasha behind him, heard the sound of a car horn, heard men’s voices yelling.

The water was only a few hundred feet away when they started shooting.

Steve’s voice rose in a panicked shout but Bucky couldn’t risk stopping, couldn’t turn around. If he stopped now it was all for nothing, Steve and the others were okay, they were fine, Steve was _fine_ -

Tony slipped slightly in his grip as he staggered over the uneven ground. The Mer tightened his grip around Bucky’s neck, and pressed so close that Bucky could feel his heart beating against his own chest. 

There was an old wooden dock not far from them. If Bucky could just make it that far…

His feet hit the wooden planks and that’s when they shot him.

He staggered, almost fell. It was his left shoulder, which was good, because at least that meant he still had his grip on Tony.

The Mer was reaching for his shoulder, hands patting at his skin, coming away wet with blood. He was saying something, voice tight and scared, but Bucky couldn’t hear him over the rush of blood pounding in his head.

Tony looked at him, then over his shoulder, and the Mer was scared, but Bucky had this. He had this. He kept his legs moving through sheer force of will, one foot in front of the other, muscles straining to keep him upright.

He took the next step and there was nothing but air.

****

Impact with the water woke him up a little.

It was fucking _cold_ and he lost most of the breath in his lungs on impact. He was starting to feel the throb in his shoulder, too, the pain pulsing through most of the left side of his body.

He was wearing jeans and boots, and he only had one good arm, and that one was sore from carrying Tony. The Mer was more solid than he looked.

He kicked at the water, reached for the top with his good arm. He was moving toward the surface, but slowly, too slowly, and his head was already spinning.

Then warm hands cupped his face and Tony was there, leaning in and pressing his mouth to Bucky’s. His lips parted, almost without conscious thought, and there was air in his lungs that wasn’t there before. He did it again, and again, and Bucky lost track of time as the warmth settled into his chest and the ache in his shoulder started to fade. Then Tony pulled back and Bucky wanted to catch him, drag him in for another breath. But Tony wrapped his arms around Bucky’s chest and pulled him up to the surface.

They broke the surface and Bucky almost forgot to breathe. Fortunately his lungs remember for him and he gulped in cold salt air while Tony hauled him in to the shore.

“I’m sorry,” Tony said. He sounded a little out of breath, and there was a strain there, like he’d pushed himself too hard. The blue light in his chest is dull now, and flickering. “This is as far as I can get you. You need to get up, Bucky. Just a few steps to dry land. Bucky, _please_.”

He had no idea how he did it, but he managed to drag himself up on his elbow and knees. He dragged himself forward one foot. Two. The sand under his arm was dry and he let himself stop, dropping back to the ground. “Go,” he said. He turned his head till he could see the pale blue light and the way it reflected off Tony’s scales. “Go. Hurry. Before someone comes back.”

“I can’t leave you here like this.” Tony sounded worried, which Bucky thought was sweet, but pointless. All of this had been to save Tony. If he got caught again it was for nothing.

“They won’t want me if you’re gone,” Bucky said and that sounded fairly reasonable. “You’re the one they’re after. Besides, I have Natasha and Steve for backup and honestly, those guys are probably already in a world of pain. Tony. Please. I need to know you’re safe.”

The Mer hesitated for a long moment. “Promise me you’ll be alright.”

“I am very hard to kill,” Bucky said. 

“Thank you,” Tony said. “For treating me like a person. For trying to take care of me while I was trapped. For saving me.” He took a deep breath. “I’m not going to forget you. Not ever.”

Bucky closed his eyes and felt his mouth curve into a smile. “Me too.” He heard a splash, but didn’t open his eyes to watch him go.

He was still warm from Tony’s breath when the darkness pulled him under again.

****

“Chicks dig bullet scars,” Clint said. “I’m kind of jealous. I’ve never been shot. Just tased a few times. And tear-gassed that one time.”

Bucky rolled his eyes. “Go bother your girlfriend and leave me alone, you lunatic.”

Clint grinned as he rolled to his feet and knocked sand off his ass. “All right, fine, sit here and mope. If Steve asks, I tried to cheer you up.”

“I’m _fine!_ ” Bucky yelled after him. Clint raised one hand in a wave without looking back. Bucky threw the middle finger at his back.

It was late enough that the beach was mostly empty, which was good because it meant there were no scandalized parents to see him flipping people off. Steve and Peggy had gone up to the boardwalk to play some of the games, and Natasha was in the water, far enough out that Bucky could barely see her. Sam was around, helping a bunch of kids build a truly massive sandcastle. And Bucky… well, yeah, Bucky was moping a little.

He couldn’t look at the water and not hope for a flash of crimson.

Tony was fine. He knew it. The Mer had been in the water when Bucky passed out, and there hadn’t been any sign of him by the time Steve and Natasha found him, several dozen yards from the dock he’d fallen from. Tony had apparently had the presence of mind to swim down the beach so Stane’s men didn’t immediately find him. But the Mer himself had been gone without a trace.

Bucky hadn’t been prepared for the ache that realization brought with it. The bullet in his shoulder hurt less than realizing he’d never see Tony again. Never know for sure that he was safe.

“God I’m an idiot,” he said to himself. They’d barely exchanged ten sentences to each other, only known each other for a few weeks. Only really touched once. But somehow Bucky had managed to fall half in love with someone so far beyond his reach that it was impossible to even dream of them being together. “An enormous idiot.”

“Sounds like your friend has been rubbing off on you.”

The voice was familiar. Stronger than the last time Bucky heard it, and happier.

He turned and saw bright blue eyes and shimmering crimson. Tony is standing on the sand a few feet away, alive and brilliant and human.

“I knew I’d find you,” Tony said.


End file.
